Upgrading from Regalia Gold to DCB Metal - Acceptance for Offline POS in India? (Seeking Suggestions)

[s4techco]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently considering upgrading my HDFC Bank Regalia Gold credit card to the Diners Club Black (DCB) Metal variant. Before I proceed, I'd really appreciate some insights and suggestions from those who use or have experience with the DCB Metal, particularly regarding its acceptance in India.

My primary concern revolves around the card's network acceptance. While I'm aware of the SmartBuy portal benefits, my spending habits are such that I'll be utilizing very little in SmartBuy, vouchers, or other online-specific redemptions. My major spending is predominantly through offline POS (Point of Sale) transactions – basically, swiping at physical stores.

Therefore, my main question is:

Will the Diners Club network credit card be widely accepted on normal swiping machines (POS terminals) across various merchants in India?

Thanks in advance for your valuable suggestions!

 

[ashwinikumar900]

1. Mostly, it depends on the POS machine, but usually nowadays all old pos machines are being updated.
2. Also depends on in which city you live, since big city merchants are more updated than the tier 2 or 3 cities.

MY EXPERIENCE- Offline transactions won’t be a big deal, but you might run into some trouble when trying to make payments online.

 

[abhiaj_geek]

Works 9/10 times in big cities. Have dcb for last 3 years.

 

[sunit123]

After reading replies, your confusion will increase further....Simple answer is NO....Check on reddit forums....It has big acceptability issue both online and offline.

 

[abhiaj_geek]

After reading replies, your confusion will increase further....Simple answer is NO....Check on reddit forums....It has big acceptability issue both online and offline.

Not in India. Unless you’re in tier 3 city. But most small merchants charge mdr or don’t accept credit cards, so doesn’t matter.

 

[sunit123]

Not in India. Unless you’re in tier 3 city. But most small merchants charge mdr or don’t accept credit cards, so doesn’t matter.

Bro...may be your experience is good...It was offered to me and i read reviews on reddit forums....80% members suggested against it...Some even closed the card due to acceptability issues...

So majority opinion is against it...However, some users might not have faced any issues depending on their specific location and usage...

It is better to go with majority view.

 

[vadixit]

Bro...may be your experience is good...It was offered to me and i read reviews on reddit forums....80% members suggested against it...Some even closed the card due to acceptability issues...

So majority opinion is against it...However, some users might not have faced any issues depending on their specific location and usage...

It is better to go with majority view.

I also did not face much issue with Offline acceptance in Pune. Some merchants charge extra for it but accepts it. I have acceptance issues online though.
@s4techco maybe you consider 80% acceptance and then evaluate if the card is good enough or not. Anyways you may have other Visa/Mastercard where it wont be accepted. In short, if you can get Infinia for acceptance but as we all know it is difficult, menwhile can get this provided you will be benifitted by it with partial acceptance as well.

 

[Swastik]

I've been using DCB for over a year now in Vizag,
Never faced any issues with offline acceptance

Very few instances of online non acceptance, mostly on govt websites

 

[abhiaj_geek]

Bro...may be your experience is good...It was offered to me and i read reviews on reddit forums....80% members suggested against it...Some even closed the card due to acceptability issues...

So majority opinion is against it...However, some users might not have faced any issues depending on their specific location and usage...

It is better to go with majority view.

Reddit is mostly full of negative experiences. Try asking if you should take home in xyz city, they will all be bashing you. Or even any stock, same response.

Reddit amplifies the negatives of any product and forgets the pros.

Edit- Seeing comments by users on this thread, most agree it works 80-90% of the times.

 

[sauravkumar]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently considering upgrading my HDFC Bank Regalia Gold credit card to the Diners Club Black (DCB) Metal variant. Before I proceed, I'd really appreciate some insights and suggestions from those who use or have experience with the DCB Metal, particularly regarding its acceptance in India.

My primary concern revolves around the card's network acceptance. While I'm aware of the SmartBuy portal benefits, my spending habits are such that I'll be utilizing very little in SmartBuy, vouchers, or other online-specific redemptions. My major spending is predominantly through offline POS (Point of Sale) transactions – basically, swiping at physical stores.

Therefore, my main question is:

Will the Diners Club network credit card be widely accepted on normal swiping machines (POS terminals) across various merchants in India?

Thanks in advance for your valuable suggestions!
View attachment 100586

Replying on this as I also faced the same issue.

I have taken DCB based on replies and positive response of fellow TF members here. But it was disaster decision!!🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

If acceptance is your criteria then never ever think about DCB!!
I will rate 1 out of 5. 😤😤
1) Majority of online payment gateways/ aggregators don't support DIners(not taking about e-commerce websites here). Like Razorpay which is the widely used gateway don't support DIners. If I knew this or had someone has given me correct opinion I wouldn't have gone for it.
2) I live in Delhi still face acceptance issues offline. And bigger problem is that even if it is getting accepted somewhere they will charge high for Diners & Amex network.
3) International acceptance is absolutely a big NO. Most of countries ( ya countries don't use Diners network, surprising exactly opposite to what I was assuming.)😑😑

Only one place it outperform is Lounge acceptance.

Now decision is yours but don't go always with the mindset that grass is greener on the other side!!😄😄


And respect seniors opinion here in TF because they have already gone through these and have much better clarity!!🙂🙂

 

[sunit123]

Reddit is mostly full of negative experiences. Try asking if you should take home in xyz city, they will all be bashing you. Or even any stock, same response.

Reddit amplifies the negatives of any product and forgets the pros.

Edit- Seeing comments by users on this thread, most agree it works 80-90% of the times.

I disagree...Reddit is full of not negative but real and practical experiences....Here, majority opinions are theoretical so better to go with practical experience.

 

[s4techco]

Thanks for sharing your experience, especially about offline acceptance & online issues. That's very helpful insight!

You've hit on my dilemma regarding Infinia. Unfortunately, I don't currently have a high enough credit limit to directly qualify for Infinia. The suggestion I received was to first upgrade to the DCB Metal, with the expectation that a higher limit might eventually be offered, paving the way for an Infinia Metal upgrade down the line.

I'm wondering, from your experience, does the card variant itself (e.g., holding a DCB Metal vs. a Regalia Gold) play a significant role in credit limit enhancements, or is it almost entirely based on one's spend pattern and repayment history? I've always believed it's all abt spend pattern.

I also did not face much issue with Offline acceptance in Pune. Some merchants charge extra for it but accepts it. I have acceptance issues online though.
@s4techco maybe you consider 80% acceptance and then evaluate if the card is good enough or not. Anyways you may have other Visa/Mastercard where it wont be accepted. In short, if you can get Infinia for acceptance but as we all know it is difficult, menwhile can get this provided you will be benifitted by it with partial acceptance as well.

 

[vadixit]

Thanks for sharing your experience, especially about offline acceptance & online issues. That's very helpful insight!

You've hit on my dilemma regarding Infinia. Unfortunately, I don't currently have a high enough credit limit to directly qualify for Infinia. The suggestion I received was to first upgrade to the DCB Metal, with the expectation that a higher limit might eventually be offered, paving the way for an Infinia Metal upgrade down the line.

I'm wondering, from your experience, does the card variant itself (e.g., holding a DCB Metal vs. a Regalia Gold) play a significant role in credit limit enhancements, or is it almost entirely based on one's spend pattern and repayment history? I've always believed it's all abt spend pattern.

I dont have idea about Regalia Gold and I too dont have credit limit for Infinia. But given a choice I might not upgrade to Infinia as well. Diners Black Metal's Quarterly milestone is very helpful for me. I dont travel outside India and have not faced offline acceptance issue so is OK with it's acceptance. Now because milestones are counting advanced tax as well, I am able to hit 2 quarterly milestone with this card providing 20k extra points. To earn the same in Infinia even with SmartBuy, I would be required to spend 25k per month which is too much for me.
As I am able to spend more than 8L a year, I dont have to worry about fees and hence so far I am happy.

For you as well I would suggest just do a rough estimate of acceptance. Take lower number if you want to be conservative, and then do calculation vs regalia gold. It may or may not be suitable for your needs and spends.

 

[Aniket Sharma]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently considering upgrading my HDFC Bank Regalia Gold credit card to the Diners Club Black (DCB) Metal variant. Before I proceed, I'd really appreciate some insights and suggestions from those who use or have experience with the DCB Metal, particularly regarding its acceptance in India.

My primary concern revolves around the card's network acceptance. While I'm aware of the SmartBuy portal benefits, my spending habits are such that I'll be utilizing very little in SmartBuy, vouchers, or other online-specific redemptions. My major spending is predominantly through offline POS (Point of Sale) transactions – basically, swiping at physical stores.

Therefore, my main question is:

Will the Diners Club network credit card be widely accepted on normal swiping machines (POS terminals) across various merchants in India?

Thanks in advance for your valuable suggestions!
View attachment 100586

I am in tier 3 city & never faced any issue wherever the cards are accepted this also goes flawlessly as diners is accepted via rupay network in india.

 

[ashwinikumar900]

After reading all these replies, the question asker might be thinking!!! 🫣

हरि अनंत हरि कथा अनंता। कहहिं सुनहिं बहुबिधि सब संता॥

 

[abhiaj_geek]

After reading all these replies, the question asker might be thinking!!! 🫣

हरि अनंत हरि कथा अनंता। कहहिं सुनहिं बहुबिधि सब संता॥

Even I am thinking how is my experience so different from others when we live in similar places 😂